Maybe the headline caught your eye and you wondered how a flight can have a shoulder season. You may well have used the shoulder season at least once when searching for flights without realising it, or at the very least you will from now on.
What is the shoulder season?
Simply put, it’s the period of travel between the off season and the high season.
The shoulder season is exactly those months between the two. It’s the middle path for any more flexible traveller. Prices and visitor numbers are many times lower than in the high season. Accommodation is more available and the locals are more relaxed.
And the weather can be on your side too. That isn’t always the case, though!
When do shoulder seasons fall when travelling?
The shoulder season depends on where in the world you want to travel. As we said in the introduction, the shoulder season comes in the off season and after the high season.
The high season = worldwide holidays, Christmas, the summer holidays, Easter, outside the rainy and typhoon seasons, Chinese New Year, cherry blossom in Japan, Ramadan and so on.
Shoulder seasons by part of the world
Asia
- Central Asia: July, August
- China: March, April, September, October
- Japan: March, May, June, September, October, November, December
- South Asia: June, July, August, September, October, November
- Southeast Asia: March, April, May, early June, November
- West Asia and the Middle East: March, April, May, September, October, November (except religious festivals)
Africa
- North and East: October, November
- South: April, September, October
- West: May, October
The Caribbean
May, June, November, December
Europe
February, March, April, October, and in Southern Europe November too
Canada
May, June, September, October
The USA
March, April, May, September, October, November
Mexico
May, September, October, November
South America
March, April, May, September, October, November
Brazil: avoid the carnival period, which usually falls between February and March
Oceania
(the Southwest Pacific, Australia, New Zealand): March, April, May, September, October and November.
The advantages of shoulder seasons
Most of the advantages come out of the text above, but it’s worth mentioning our own experience too. Zdeňa and I travel more or less only in shoulder seasons. Our road trip in Romania at the turn of September and October, for instance.
The weather was no longer tropical, which made for pleasant climbing in the mountains as well as time by the sea. There were fewer tourists, so the roads weren’t packed and neither were the sights. We saved thousands on accommodation, which compared to summer was a third more expensive.
Or our pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, which we walked twice, each time either after the high season or in the shoulder season.
Thanks to the shoulder season you can experience all the great things a place has to offer, save money and save the time you’d spend grumbling.
